1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to method, apparatus and business model for collecting evidence of and reporting on patient medical status relating to a medical procedure, and in particular to use of biometric data of patients to link medical reports relating to the medical procedure.
2. Description of the Related Art
New medical procedures offer the potential to improve a patient's quality of life. However, new medical procedures may not be accepted unless evidence can be provided that the procedure has the ability to provide an improvement in the quality of the patient's life. Proof of the benefits of a procedure may be referred to as evidence based medicine.
Over the course of providing treatment to a patient, the patient is often treated by several different medical service providers. In one example, a patient is seen by a screening physician, a home-care physician, a specialist at a local hospital, and then by a specialist at a specialized hospital. Follow-up care may involve one or more of the specialist medical professionals, the patient's personal care physician, or a rehabilitation center. Regular medical care, such as check-ups, may involve other medical service providers. Payment or reimbursement for the medical procedure and for other medical care is provided according to several different models. Some expenses are paid by health insurance, some by employer plans, some by the patient as out-of-pocket expenses, and other by public medical programs, such as Medicare or Medicaid.
Tracking a patient's progress and quality of life through the different medical service providers and payment or reimbursement models has been difficult or impossible. The result is that evidence is lost over the course of the medical procedure and following the procedure that could have been used to evaluate the success or failure of the procedure, or to identify problems or benefits of the procedure.
Published pending patent application US 2003/0229521 A1 of Fuchs et al. provides for acquisition of biometric data before a medical procedure and storing the data as a record. A method for administering patient medical records includes checking in with information of the initial disease or suspicion and a planned new examination.
Any collection of biometric data of a patient must comply with the Biometric Information Privacy Act and other related laws.
Published pending patent application US 2003/0120544 A1 of Gritzbach et al. relates to an incentive system that provides premiums to subscribers to promote objectives.